FM Sitharaman directs Income Tax dept to work for benefit of common people
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has criticized the 'laidback' culture within the Income Tax department, urging officials to prioritize the needs of common citizens. She highlighted her own department's struggles with bureaucratic red tape as an example of the challenges ordinary people face.
Why it matters
It highlights ongoing efforts to reform bureaucratic efficiency and improve public service delivery in India's government institutions.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday (July 26, 2026) urged the Income Tax department to work for the benefit of common people without making them run from pillar to post.
She also went public with her disappointment at the "laidback" nature of government departments, which leads to illegal occupation or encroachments on government lands and underlined the need for integrity in conduct from all officials.
Citing the challenges faced by the department in getting permissions to construct a building in the Nariman Point business district, which she inaugurated on Sunday (July 26), Ms. Sitharaman said these experiences, despite serving in the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), would have given them an idea of what the common man goes through.
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